With 14 years of personal know-how, Trudy Poret launches Tarpan Construction

Prior to starting her own business, Trudy Poret worked in the office of a construction company for seven years and as a project manager at a growing construction firm for another seven years. Along with her personal determination, these experiences gave Poret the drive and ability to launch her own company - Tarpan Construction, LLC - in 2010.

Tarpan provides civil construction services for coastal restoration, levees, roads, bridges and utilities; management consultation in safety, quality, estimating and scheduling; renting equipment to state and federal agencies; and purchasing and delivery of dirt, rock, and sand for necessary projects. Tarpan is a successful company in the civil construction services industry, but Poret faced several hurdles in the company’s early days.

Tarpan was having issues with job cost tracking, job scheduling, bid formatting and tracking financials because the company was only able to handle tracking and bidding in simple spreadsheets. So, Tarpan turned to LED's Small and Emerging Business Development (SEBD) Program for assistance. As one of LED’s SEBD intermediaries, The City of Alexandria helped Tarpan identify those areas where they had potential for improvement and that could be addressed through the managerial and technical assistance available through the SEBD Program.

LED’s Small and Emerging Business Development Program supports a growing Tarpan

With the assistance of the SEBD Program, Tarpan received support with instillation and training on accounting software that integrated into their specific needs as a construction company. This new software facilitated Tarpan’s growth and helped the company as it took on more public sector contracts.

As Tarpan grew, the need for bidding and estimating software came to the forefront. In order to further facilitate the expected growth, the company was able to use the SEBD Program again to help with installation and training on bidding and estimating software. This allowed Tarpan to build estimates more quickly and accurately while gaining access to estimating data sources, which were previously unavailable.

Since initial certification in the SEBD Program, Tarpan has grown from a one person business to adding seven new full time jobs with additional contracted work. The company’s equipment and inventory has grown from one pick-up truck to two pick-up trucks, two tri-axle dump trucks, an enclosed jobsite trailer, a 20-foot flatbed trailer and an extensive stock of small tools. The company offices have also gone through a full remodel to accommodate the additional staff. As a result of the growth facilitated by the SEBD Program and the assistance it provided, the company has seen revenues increase by more than $7 million and looks to continue their trend of growth into the future.

“SEBD provided us the tools we needed to grow and build a strong core,” Poret said. “They have become tools that we use each and every day.”